Spallation Neutron Source gets initial go-ahead on second target

January 16, 2009

The Department of Energy has given initial approval to begin plans for the Second Target Station at SNS, depicted in the image here.

(PhysOrg.com) -- The U.S. Department of Energy has given its initial approval to begin plans for a second target station for the Spallation Neutron Source, expanding what is already the world's most powerful pulsed neutron scattering facility located at DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Critical Decision Zero (CD-0) status is the first step in an approximately $1 billion construction project. The Second Target Station (STS) will be optimized for nanoscale and biological sciences with an emphasis on novel materials for energy production, storage and use.

"The approval of CD-0 and the mission need statement for the STS reflects the Department's commitment to securing and expanding this Nation's leadership position in neutron science," said Harriet Kung, DOE Associate Director of Science for Basic Energy Sciences.

With the addition of up to 24 instruments, the number of researchers that will have access to the SNS's unique neutron scattering capability will eventually double from 2,000 to 4,000 annually.

"CD-0 approval is great news for materials research. The second target station will expand the Spallation Neutron Source's capability for studying structure and dynamics on the nanoscale and provide for a growing community of users, maximizing the scientific investment in the SNS accelerator complex," said ORNL Director Thom Mason, who previously led the SNS project through most of its construction and startup phases.

The new target station-- the most intense source of its kind in the world--will generate long pulses of "cold" neutrons, which are cryogenically chilled to wavelengths that are more useful for molecular-scale analysis.

"The added suite of instruments will provide new research opportunities in technologically significant areas. With the SNS's new capabilities for studying materials and processes at the micro- and nanoscale, researchers will have the tools to develop new materials for a broad range of applications including advanced automotive battery technology, new steel alloys and pharmaceuticals," said Ian Anderson, ORNL Associate Laboratory Director for Neutron Sciences.

Research at the first target station at SNS, which has 10 instruments either operating or in commissioning, has already provided new insight into the behavior of materials used for the efficient transmission of electricity, and has facilitated the development of new methods of administering medicines.

As home of the SNS and the recently upgraded High Flux Isotope Reactor, ORNL is the world's leading center for neutron science.

CD-0 is the first of five "critical decisions" that govern construction of DOE facilities and projects, and is required before the development of a conceptual design study and submission of a budget request for the start of project engineering and design efforts. The project completion is estimated for 2020.

ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy. Funding for the STS is through the Department's Office of Science (Office of Basic Energy Sciences).

Related Stories

The first of its kind superconducting linear particle accelerator (LINAC) built for the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now celebrating 10 years of successful ...

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI have found a way of looking inside the iron core of transformers. Transformers are indispensable in regulating electricity both in industry and in domestic households. The better ...

The UK's ISIS Second Target Station Project moved a major step closer to completion today when the first neutrons were created in the ISIS Second Target Station. After five years of planning and construction, the first neutrons ...

The ISIS Second Target Station Project at the STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire achieved a major milestone on Friday 14 December, at the first attempt and two days ahead of schedule. Protons were successfully ...

Recommended for you

(Phys.org)—According to a new study, there are more familiar strangers in our lives than friends, coworkers, and all other acquaintances combined. Encounters with familiar strangers, defined as pairs of individuals who ...

An international team led by University of Arkansas physicists has discovered drastic changes in material properties occurring in a group of two-dimensional materials that are being investigated as candidates to power the ...

Researchers at the Division of Solid-State Physics and the Division of Materials Physics at Uppsala University have shown how the collective dynamics in a structure consisting of interacting magnetic nano-islands can be manipulated. ...

Physicists of the University of Würzburg have made an astonishing discovery in a specific type of topological insulators. The effect is due to the structure of the materials used. The researchers have now published their ...

Researchers have developed a way to use commercial inkjet printers and readily available ink to print hidden images that are only visible when illuminated with appropriately polarized waves in the terahertz region of the ...

An international team of scientists has succeeded in making further improvements to the lifetime of superconducting quantum circuits. An important prerequisite for the realization of high-performance quantum computers is ...

1 comment

I'm a physicist that believe the investments on basic science is not enough in our days. Therefore I'm very glad to heard news like that: a solid effort to develope the neutron science. By this way, the ORNL supports other projects in basic science like the candidacy of Bilbao (Spain) to host the new spallation neutron source in Europe. You can see more on www.essbilbao.com or in esns.blogspot.com. They are all good news.

Please sign in to add a comment.
Registration is free, and takes less than a minute.
Read more

Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.